Bearing construction



are}! 1967 H. A. ORTEGREN BEARING CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 OriginalFiled Feb. 20, 1962 INVENTOR. #9777147? X077 6 arch 21, 1967 H. A.ORTEGREN 3,310,351

BEARING CONSTRUCTION Original Filed Feb. 20, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 4law/V5045,

United States Patent f 3,310,351 BEARHJG CONSTRUCTIQN Herman A.Ortegren, Grosse Pointe, Mich., assignor t0 Federal-Mogul Corporation, acorporation of Michigan Original application Feb. 20, 1962, Ser. No.174,504, now

Patent No. 3,138,849, dated June 30, 1964. Divided and this applicationMar. 11, 1964, Ser. No. 355,991

6 Claims. (Cl. 308-217) This application is a divisional applicationalof the copending application of Herman A. Ortegren, Ser. No. 174,504,filed Feb. 20, 1962, which has issued into United States Patent No.3,138,849 on June 30, 1964.

This invention relates to bearings and more particularly to theconstruction of roller bearings.

It is common in roller bearing construction to provide a retainer toguide the rollers which retainer rides upon the inner race or outerrace. Such contact eventually results in wear of the inner or outerrace. It is an object of this invention then to provide a roller bearingconstruction in which the retainer rides solely on the rollers.

It is advantageous that a retainer for a roller bearing have circularseats conforming to the shape of the rollers in order to maximize thecontact area between the rollers and the retainer. It is an object ofthis invention, then, to provide a roller bearing construction in whichthe pockets of the retainer have seats which are arcuately contoured toconform to the shape of the roller.

In order to retain the rollers to the retainer for purposes of shipping,assembly, etc., it is common practice that the ends of the roller beindented and the edge of the retainer ring be upset on either side toform portions which project into the depressions in the ends of therollers. It is another object then of this invention to provide a rollerbearing assembly in which the rollers are maintained in a one-pieceretainer rin-g without the necessity of forming depressions in the endsof the rollers and without the necessity of upsetting or formingprojections on the ring to extend into these depressions. Along the sameline, it is common practice that, in the assembly of the rollers to theretainer rings, the ring must be staked or otherwise upset after therollers have been placed in the pockets to maintain the rollers to thering for purposes of shipping, assembly, etc. Also in some bearingconstructions multiple piece bearing retainers are used to maintain therollers. It is an object of this invention to provide a one-pieceretainer in which the rollers can be snapped into the pockets of aretainer either from the inside or from the outside and be retainedtherein without further staking or upsetting operations.

It is another object of this invention to provide a retainer ring havinga construction whereby the ring can be made of a light gauge materialand in which a seat is provided having a contour similar to that of thecontour of the roller and in which the roller can be snapped into thepocket of the retainer and maintained therein without the necessity offurther upsetting or staking operations on the retainer ring.

Other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention willbecome apparent from the subsequent description and the appended claims,taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevational view of one embodiment of a retainerring and roller assembly embodying the features of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view of the retainer ring and rollerassembly of FIGURE 1 taken substantially along the line 22;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary view which depicts one step of a novel method ofmanufacturing the retainer ring shown in FIGURES 1 and 2;

3,316,351 Patented Mar. 21, 1967 FIG. 4 is a view of the same step asshown in FIG- URE 3 taken substantially along the line 44 in FIG- URE 3;

FIG. 5 is a view depicting another step in the method of manufacturingthe retainer ring shown in FIGURES l and 2;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view of a modification of the retainerring and rollers as shown in FIG- URES 1 and 2;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the bearing cage and roller assembly ofFIGURE 6 taken substantially along the line 77;

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary sectional view which shows the construction of aretainer ring after one step in the method of manufacturing the retainerring as shown in FIGURES 6 and 7;

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary view with some parts shown in section depictinganother step in the method of manufacturing the retainer ring shown inFIGURES 6 and 7;

FIG. 10 is a fragmentary sectional view of a retainer ring after thestep shown in FIGURE 9;

FIG. 11 is a fragmentary view with some parts shown in section depictinganother step in the formation of the bearing cage shown in FIGURES 6 and7; and

FIG. 12 is a fragmentary view with some parts shown in section depictingthe final step in the manufacture of the bearing cage shown in FIGURES 6and 7.

Looking now to FIGURE 1, a retainer ring and roller assembly isgenerally designated by the numeral 14 and is comprised of a generallytubular cage or retainer ring 16 and a plurality of equally spacedroller members 18 which can be provided with flat end surfaces (FIG- URE2) and need not be formed with depressions therein for retainingpurposes as will be presently seen. The rollers 18 are retained inpockets 20 defined by a plurality of spaced ribs 22 which pockets 20 areof a width slightly greater than the width of rollers 18 for clearancepurposes. Each of the ribs 22 is formed on opposite circumferentialsides with a face 24 having a profile which is the arc of a circlehaving a radius (r, FIGURE 2) substantially equal to the radius of therollers 18. The ribs are circumferentially spaced with confronting onesof the faces 24 having a cross-sectional profile substantially definingportions of a circle having a diameter substantially equal to thediameter of the roller members 18; of course, some clearance is providedas dictated by proper design techniques. By providing the oppositelyfacing seats 24 on adjacent ribs 22 of such an arcuate shape, therollers 18 are provided with a maximum bearing surface or area ofcontact with those seats 24.

With the ribs 20 constructed as described above the linear distancebetween the radially innermost edges on oppositely facing confrontingsurfaces 24 is just slightly less than the diameter of the rollers 18.This slight interference can 'be selected to be such that the rollers 18can be readily snapped into the pockets 20 from the inside of the cageor retainer ring 16. Similarly, by providing the proper interferencebetween the outermost edges of confronting arcuate surfaces 24 onadjacent ribs 22, the roller 18 can "be snapped into the pocket 20 fromthe outside of the retainer ring 16. For a purpose to be seen, theinside diameter of the retainer ring 16 or of the rib 22 relative to theradius of the arc of surfaces 24 is provided such that the radiallyinnermost edge of the arcuate surfaces 24 does not extend beyond a pointof tangency of that arcuate surface with a line parallel (tan-gent line,FIGURE 2) to a radius line R from the center of the retainer ring 16which is the perpendicular bisector of that rib 22. By geometricdefinition the arcuate surface 24 can be tangent to only one suchparallel line. 7

It can be readily seen, looking to FIGURE 2 that, with the arcuatesurface 24 terminating at a point not beyond the point of tangency ofthat surface with the line parallel to the radius line R of the cage 16,the linear distance d between confronting terminating edges will be lessthan the diameter D of the roller 18 thus providing an interference fit.The inside radius of the retainer ring 16, or at least of the ribportions 22, can be increased to a point where the linear distance dbetween confronting terminating edges is just less than the diameter Dof the roller 18 and still provide an interference fit. As previouslynoted this interference fit is selected to be just suflicient wherebythe rollers 18 can be snapped into the pockets 20. Since the retainerring 16 is made of a resilient material, once the rollers 18 have beensnapped past the radially innermost edges of the arcuate surfaces 24into the pockets 20, the ribs 22 resiliently return to the originalposition providing an interference such that the rollers 18 cannot fallout from the retainer ring 16. Thus the desired interference fit can beprovided simply by selecting the proper inside or outside diameter ofthe retainer 16 relative to the diameter of the rollers 18.

With the above described construction, the retainer ring 16 can be heldby the rollers 18 out of contact with either the inner or outer race(not shown) of the bearing assembly, into which the roller and retainerring assembly 14 is used.

The retainer ring 16 is made by a novel method as depicted in FIGURES 3,4 and 5. In the formation of the retainer ring 16 ordinary tube stock ofthe desired outside diameter, inside diameter, and thickness can beutilized. In the first step, the tube stock is cut to proper length toform a blank 16. Alternatively, the blank 16' may also be formed fromfiat stock to a cup and the bottom punched out to produced the same sizeblank as made from tubing. Next a plurality of slots are formed thereinby the use of a die assembly located on opposite surfaces of theone-piece blank 16'. A punch member 26 of a generally rectangular shapeand formed with straight sides is located internally of the blank 16 andis moved radially outwardly towards an externally disposed stationaryfemale die 27 to punch out a segment of blank 16 to thus peripherallyform a plurality of slots. Thus as shown in FIGURE 4 a plurality ofslots are formed having confronting surfaces which are parallel to eachother while adjacent oppositely facing surfaces are inclined radiallyinwardly relative to each other.

After the slots have been formed in blank 16, as shown in FIGURES 3 and4, each rib is swaged simultaneously on opposite surfaces. Looking nowto FIGURE 5, a backkup die 30 is disposed on the radially outside ofeach rib 22' of blank 16 and a swaging die 32 located radiallyinternally is moved radially outwardly along a radius line (R, FIGUREbisecting that rib 22 being swaged to form on opposite surfaces of eachrib 22, a surface 24 having a profile which is an are having a radiussubstantially equal to the radius of the roller 18 to be utilized. Theswaging die 32 is provided with a pair of swaging surfaces 34 which aredisposed on opposite sides of a cavity 36 and which surfaces 34 are ofthe desired arcuate shape.

In order to allow the swaging die 32 to be removed from the rib 22'after the swaging operation, the cavity 36 must be provided such thatthe arcuate surfaces 34 define a suitable draft with respect to the lineof motion of the movable die. This can be insured by providing that theinnermost edge of the arcuate surface 24 as swaged does not extendbeyond the point of tangency of that surface with a line parallel(tangent line, FIG. 5) to the line of motion of the swaging die 32. Bygeometric definition the arcuate surface 24' is tangent to only one suchparallel line and this parallel line corresponds to the line parallel toradius line R discussed with reference to FIGURE 2. Looking to FIGURES 2and 5, it can be seen then that with such a construction a die member 32can then be readily removed from the rib 22' after the swaging operationhas been completed.

As previously discussed, by providing the proper interference fit(dimension d relative to diameter D of the roller 18) the rollers 18 canbe disposed within the retainer ring 16 and moved radially outwardly andsnapped into the pockets 20 formed by the method shown in FIG- URES 3and 5 and as described above. Also, the ring 16 can be constructed suchthat the rollers 18 can be snapped from the outside of the ring into thepockets 20 simply by varying the thickness of the ribs 22 or outsidediameter of ring 16 and by controlling the interference between theoutermost edges of confronting surfaces 24 relative to the diameter D ofthe rollers 18. Thus by a proper selection of the inside or outsidediameter of the retainer ring 16 relative to the diameter of the rollers18, the proper interference fit can be attained whereby the roller canbe snapped into and retained within the pockets 20.

Note then that with the retainer ring 16 formed as shown and described,the rollers 18 can be snapped into pockets 20 and can be retainedtherein by means of the interference fit without the necessity of anadditional staking or upsetting operation. In this connection then withrollers 18 retained by the interference fit with the pockets 20 of theretainer 16, the ends of the rollers 18 need not be formed withindentations to accept projections from the retainer ring.

Utilizing the concepts of construction as previously defined, a rollerbearing cage can be made of a lighter gauge material by making the cageconstruction as shown in FIGURES 6 and 7. Looking now to FIGURE 6, abearing cage and roller assembly 39 has a retainer ring 48 which isformed with a plurality of pockets 41 having confronting arcuatesurfaces 42 formed on adjacent ribs 44 having a profile which is an archaving a radius substantially equal to the radius of the rollers 46which are disposed within the pockets 41. The ribs 44 of the retainer 40have a centrally disposed portion 48 (FIGURE 7) which is depressedradially inwardly with respect to the remainder of the rib 44.

Looking now to FIGURE 6, the arcuate surface 42 of the rib 44 includingdepressed portion 48 has a composite profile of the are previouslydiscussed. The depressed portion 48 defines the radially innermostportion of the seat for the roller 46 and the nondepressed portions ofthe rib 44 define the radially outermost portions of the seat for therollers 46. The depressed portions 48 contribute an additional functionof providing additional resistance to bending of the cage 40. Thus itcan be appreciated then that by so depressing the ribs 44 the cage 48can be made of a lighter gauge material. In order to provide additionalresistance to bending of the light gauge cage 40, a pair of oppositelyradially extending flanges 50 and 52 can be provided on either side ofthe cage 40 (FIG- URE 7 For the same purpose as mentioned with regard tothe embodiments shown in FIGURES 1 and 2, the radially innermost edgesof the arcuate surfaces 42 on depressed portions 48 are formed to havethe same geometric and dimensional relationship with respect to eachother and to the rollers 46 as the innermost edges of the arcuatesurfaces 24 have to each other and to the rollers 18 in the embodimentshown in FIGURES 1 and 2.

The cage 40 shown in embodiments in FIGURES 6 and 7 can be made in amanner similar to that of cage 16 shown in FIGURES 1 and 2 and asdescribed in conjunction with FIGURES 3, 4 and 5. The bearing cage 40 ismade out of a single piece of tubing 40' of the proper length anddesired thickness and having the desired inside and outside diameters.In a first step, the flanges 50 and 52 are formed or turned to give theblank 40 an appearance as shown in FIGURE 8. As previously mentioned,the blank 40' may also be formed from fiat stock to a cup and the bottompunched out to produce the same size blank as made from tubing. Next, aplurality of slots for the pockets are formed by the use of a punchingdie (FIGURE 9) which is comprised of a female or backup member 54 and amale or punch member 56. The die members 54 and 56 are of generally thesame configuration as the die members 24 and 28 of FIG- URE 4 andperform the same functions as described therein.

Looking now to FIGURE 10, a fragmentary view is shown of the bearingcage or retainer 40 after the flanges 50 and 52 have been turned orformed and after the plurality of slots have been formed therein.

In the next step a center portion of the ribs 44' formed by the punchingoperation as shown in FIGURE 9 and as described above is depressedradially inwardly to form a radially inward portion 48'. Looking now toFIGURE 11, this step is accomplished by means of a female die member 58disposed internally within retainer ring 40 and by means of a male dieor punch 60 disposed outside of the retainer ring 40. The female member58 is provided with a recess 59 having a shape to facilitate theformation of the depressed portion 48' while the punch 60 is of a shapeto force the material of the rib 44' into the recess 59. In this stepthen the male member 58' is moved radially inwardly to depress the rib44 radially inwardly to form the depressed center portion 48'. After theabove step has been completed, the entire rib 44 including the radiallyinwardly depressed portion 48 is swaged to form the arcuate seats 42 bymeans of a female die 62 and a backup or male die 64. The female die 62and the backup die 64 are similar in construction and operation to thefemale die 32 and backup die 30 as shown in FIGURE 5 and as previouslydescribed except that the male die 64 has a shape conforming to theshape of the rib 44' including the depressed portion 48. Thus in theswaging operation as shown in FIGURE 12, the same relationship of thearcuate seat 42 with respect to the die member 62 exists as in the caseof the arcuate seat 24' with respect to the-die member 32, thusproviding the proper draft whereby die member 62 can be retracted fromthe rib 44' after the swaging operation has been completed, i.e. thearcuate surface 42 extends radially inwardly no further than the pointof tangency of the arc with a tangent line (FIGURE 12) which is parallelto a radius line (R, FIGURE 12) which bisects that rib 44' and alongwhich radius line the rib 44' is swaged.

Note that after the swaging operation, the entire rib 44' has acomposite arcuate surface 42 defined by the depressed portion 48' andthe nondepressed portion of the rib 44 such that the nondepressedportion retains the roller 46 from moving radially outwardly While thedepressed portion 48' retains the roller 46 from moving radiallyinwardly.

By properly selecting the interference or relationship of the lineardistance between the radially innermost edges of confronting surfaces42' of the depressed portion 48' with regard to the diameter of therollers 46, the rollers 46 can be snapped into the pockets 41' definedby adjacent ribs 44' by simply disposing the rollers on the inside ofthe bearing cage 40' and moving them radially outwardly into the pockets41'. Likewise, by providing the proper interference or relationship ofthe linear distance between the radially outermost edges of thenondepressed portion of the ribs 44' with regard to the diameter of therollers 46, the rollers can be snapped into the pocket from the outsideof the bearing cage 40. As previously mentioned the desired interferencefit is provided by selecting the proper inside or outside diameter ofthe ribs 44' of the retainer 40' relative to the diameter of the rollers18.

With the retainer and roller assembly 39 as shown in FIGURES 6 and 7including the retainer 40 as described above and as made by the stepsshown in FIGURES 8 through 12, the retainer ring 40 rides upon therollers 46 and thus need not contact either the inside or outside racesof the bearing assembly in which the assembly 39 is used.

Note that in both embodiments the bearing retainers 16 and 40 areconstructed of a resilient material such that after the rollers aresnapped past the inner or outermost edges, depending upon the design,into the pockets, the edges resiliently move back to their originalposition to thereby retain the rollers in the pockets.

While it will be apparent that the preferred embodiments of theinvention disclosed are well calculated to fulfill the objects abovestated, it will be appreciated that the invention is susceptible tomodification, variation and change without departing from the properscope or fair meaning of the subjoined claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a bearing assembly the combination comprising a plurality ofroller members, a tubular one-piece bearing retainer member having aplurality of axially extending circumferentially spaced ribs withconfronting surfaces on adjacent ones of said ribs defining a pluralityof pockets for retaining said roller members, each of said ribs having aradially inwardly depressed portion, each of said surfaces includingthat portion on said depressed portions having a composite profile theshape of an are having a radius substantially equal to the radius ofsaid roller members with said are extending radially inwardly no furthatthan the point of tangency of said arc with a tangent line which isparallel to a radius line of said bearing retainer which bisects thatone of said ribs with which said are is individual and confronting onesof said surfaces together having a cross-sectional profile substantiallydefining portions of a circle having a diameter substantially equal tothe diameter of said roller members and radially extreme resilient edgeson confronting ones of said surfaces being linearly spaced -apreselected distance less than the diameter of said roller memberswhereby said roller members can be moved radially into said pockets pastsaid resilient edges and retained therein by said resilient edges.

2. The bearing assembly of claim 1 with said resilient edges beingdisposed on the radially innermost side of said surfaces.

3. The bearing assembly of claim 1 with said resilient edges beingdisposed on the radially outermost side of said surfaces.

4. In a bearing assembly the combination comprising a plurality ofroller members, a tubular one-piece bearing retainer member having aplurality of axially extending circumferentially spaced ribs withconfronting surfaces on adjacent ones of said ribs defining a pluralityof pockets for retaining said roller members, each of said surfaces oneach of said ribs having a profile the shape of an are having a radiussubstantially equal to the radius of said roller members with said areextending radially inwardly no further than the point of tangency ofsaid are with a tangent line which is parallel to a radius line of saidbearing retainer which bisects that one of said ribs with which said areis individual and confronting ones of said surfaces together having across-sectional profile substantially defining portions of a circlehaving a diameter substantially equal to the diameter of said rollermembers.

5. In a bearing assembly the combination comprising a plurality ofroller members, a tubular one-piece bearing retainer member having aplurality of axially extending circumferentially spaced ribs withconfronting surfaces on adjacent ones of said ribs defining a pluralityof pockets for retaining said roller members, each of said ribs having aradially inwardly depressed portion, each of said confronting surfacesincluding that portion on said depressed portion having a compositeprofile the shape of an arc having a radius substantially equal to theradius of said roller members with that portion of said are on saiddepressed portion extending radially inwardly no further than the pointof tangeney of said are with a tangent line which is parallel to aradius line of said bearing retainer which bisects that one of said ribswith which said are is individual, and confronting ones of said surfacestogether having a cross-sectional profile substantially definingportions of a circle having a diameter substantially equal to thediameter of said roller members.

6. The bearing assembly of claim 5 with said retainer member havingradially extending flange-s disposed at opposite ends thereof.

References Cited by the Examiner 10 MARTIN P.

UNITED STATES PATENTS Johnson 308-217 Beck 29148.4 Baden 29148.4

Neese 308217 Bratt 29-148.4 Biedinger 308201 SCHWADRON, PrimaryExaminer.

FRANK SUSKO, Examiner.

1. IN A BEARING ASSEMBLY THE COMBINATION COMPRISING A PLURALITY OFROLLER MEMBERS, A TUBULAR ONE-PIECE BEARING RETAINER MEMBER HAVING APLURALITY OF AXIALLY EXTENDING CIRCUMFERENTIALLY SPACED RIBS WITHCONFRONTING SURFACES ON ADJACENT ONES OF SAID RIBS DEFINING A PLURALITYOF POCKETS FOR RETAINING SAID ROLLER MEMBERS, EACH OF SAID RIBS HAVING ARADIALLY INWARDLY DEPRESSED PORTION, EACH OF SAID SURFACES INCLUDINGTHAT PORTION OF SAID DEPRESSED PORTIONS HAVING A COMPOSITE PROFILE THESHAPE OF AN ARC HAVING A RADIUS SUBSTANTIALLY EQUAL TO THE RADIUS OFSAID ROLLER MEMBERS WITH SAID ARC EXTENDING RADIALLY INWARDLY NO FURTHERTHAN THE POINT OF TANGENCY OF SAID ARC WITH A TANGENT LINE WHICH ISPARALLEL TO A RADIUS LINE OF SAID BEARING RETAINER WHICH BISECTS THATONE OF SAID RIBS WITH WHICH SAID ARC IS INDIVIDUAL AND CONFRONTING ONESOF SAID SURFACES TOGATHER HAVING A CROSS-SECTIONAL PROFILE SUBSTANTIALLYDEFINING PORTIONS OF A CIRCLE HAVING A DIAMETER SUBSTANTIALLY EQUAL TOTHE DIAMETER OF SAID ROLLER MEMBERS AND RADIALLY EXTREME RESILIENT EDGESON CONFRONTING ONES OF SAID SURFACES BEING LINEARLY SPACED A PRESELECTEDDISTANCE LESS THAN THE DIAMETER OF SAID ROLLER MEANS WHEREBY SAID ROLLERMEMBERS CAN BE MOVED RADIALLY INTO SAID POCKETS PAST SAID RESILIENTEDGES AND RETAINED THEREIN BY SAID RESILIENT EDGES.